Transparent protective screen

ABSTRACT

The invention deals with a transparent protective shield which comprises an element of a transparent material partly housed in a support. The free portion of said element is intended to be located in front of a sighting field. An actuating device drives the transparent element in displacement relative to the support so that it passes over scraping lips which clean said element.

United States atent [191 Peiliex TRANSPANT PROTECTIVE SCREEN [75Inventor: [73] Assignee: Arisara Investment ca ibration NV, Curacao,Netherlands Antilles [22] Filedz Apr. 12,1951 W [21] App1.No.: 133,096

Paul Peillex, Thonon, France 52 us. C1. ..2/10 [51] Int. Cl. ..A61f 9/04[58] Field of Search ..2/8, 9, 10, 14 R [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,108,504 8/1955 France..2/9

Primary ExaminerI-l. Hampton Hunter AttomeyYoung & Thompson Theinvention deals with a transparent protective shield which comprises anelement of a transparent material partly housed in a support. The freeportion of said element is intended to be located in front of a sightingfield. An actuating device drives the transparent element indisplacement relative to the support so that it passes over scrapinglips which clean said element.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDmmms 3,721,995

sum 2 BF 3 Mum m4 P004 1 5/44 EX TRANSPARENT PROTECTIVE SCREEN Theobject of the present invention is to obtain an automatic cleaning of atransparent protection screen without hindering or limiting the sight.

The transparent protective screen according to the invention ischaracterized by the fact that it comprises a piece of transparentmaterial partly housed within a support and a free portion of which isintended to be in front of a sighting field and by the fact that itcomprises a driving device causing relative displacement between thepiece of transparent material and the support.

The attached drawings show schematicaly and by way of example differentembodiments of a protective screen according to the invention whenincorporated in a helmet.

FIG. 1 shows a screen the transparent piece of which is driven with areciprocal movement.

FIG. 2 shows a screen the transparent piece of which is driven incontinuous rotation.

FIG. 3 shows a detail of the driving of the screen shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 shows a screen the transparent piece of which is a strip drivenin successive steps.

FIG. 5 shows a detail of the driving of the strip shown in FIG. 4.

The transparent protective shield is thus partly incorporated within itssupport, for example a protective helmet of which it connects the twolateral sides while forming a transparent screen before the eyes of thewearer or before a movie camera or a photographic apparatus on which thesupport would be fastened. This screen comprises a piece of transparentmaterial, preferably flexible and 'imbreakable or of safety glass. Thefree portion of this piece constitutes the sighting field whereas theremaining part of it is located within the support. In fact on each sideof the sighting field the support comprises a slot, the edges of whichare provided with scraping lips, in which the transparent piece isplaced.

This transparent piece may completely surround the support or on thecontrary be interrupted. It is however always long enough that throughrelative displacements with respect to the support the whole of thesighting field may be cleaned by passage between the lips provided onthe support.

The movement of the transparent piece with respect to the support may becontinuous, always in the same direction when the piece is closed onitself or oscillating when the piece does not completely surround thesupport.

During these displacements the scraping lips mounted on the support andbetween which the transparent piece is clamped act as scrapers whichremove water, dirt and so on which may have collected on the transparentpiece.

It is evident that the transparent piece may be planar or curved or alsocurved along two directions and is thus able to be deformed, through itsown flexibility or softness, during its displacements to adapt to theshape of the slide provided in the support. This permits oneparticularly to make provision for the fact that the shape of the helmethas the shape of a head that is not circular.

This transparent piece may be colored or tinted, particularly in orderto absorb the sunrays, or even be optically treated for example in a wayto polarize the light passing through it.

Finally the driving of the transparent piece in its displacement withrespect to the support may be manual, by means of a driving member whichcould emerge from of the support, or automatic for example by means of asmall electric motor mounted on the support and fed either by a batteryor an accumulator also incorporated within the support, or even by anindependent batery.

The driving may be effected by means of the said motor, either byfriction of the strip against a driving roller or if the transparentstrip has perforations by meshing of these perforations with a piniondriven by the motor.

This new screen, easy to fabricate and of a low net cost, permits anefficient and rapid self-cleaning which is made automatic.

The main utilization fields at present for the transparent protectivescreen are:

The incorporation within a protective helmet or on a support on the headof a person in order to realize sports-glasses which are self-cleanin g.

The mounting of a support on a movie camera or on a apparatus whichenables one to'protect the objective from the weather.

In the following are described by way of example and referring to theattached drawings different variants of the incorporation of theprotective screen into a skier or motorbikedriver helmet The helmet 1shown in FIG. 1 is provided with a false helmet orinternal helmet 2constituting the support of the screen.

The helmet 2 is fixed in a well known manner within the helmet 1..A lipof plastic material 3 is directly moulded on the support 2 and surroundsthe portion of the helmet l which is cut out to uncover the eyes of thewearer. i

The transparent element of the screen is constituted here by a sphericalportion 4 of transparent plastic material. This portion 4 is mountedwithin the support 2 in order to be able to effect angular displacementsaround an axis 5 of an amplitude corresponding approximately to thelength of the transparent portion emerging from the support 2 betweenthe two opposed edges of the lip 3.

The driving of the transparent spherical portion 4 is effected by meansof the lever 6 fastened on the axle 5 and connected through the controlrod 7 to an eccentric 8. This eccentric 8 is fast with the axle of anelectrical motor 9 fastened on ahousing 10 in which current feedingbatteries 11 for the motor are located. This housing 10 is itselffastened on the support 2.

The transparent shield 4 may be driven in angular reciprocaldisplacements. It is evident that an interrupter (not shown) fastened onthe helmet 1 may be provided in the supply circuit of the motor to startit or to stop it.

In the variant shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 the transparent shield isconstituted by a strip of plastic material 12 which is supple andtransparent. The upper edge of this strip 12 is provided withperforations 13 evenly spaced. This strip 12 is continuous and closed onitself.

The strip 12 is slidingly mounted in a support comprising a slide 14.This slide is mounted by any suitable known means in the helmet l in itsrear part. This slide w to be sighted through.

The plunger 30 comprises a rubbing member 32 en-' tering in contact withthe screen at each return 'stroke' of the plunger 30 which causes itsdriving step by step in the direction of the arrow f.

It is evident that numerous other variants could be realized withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention.

1, is guided by the slide 14 and the guides 15 and may be driven indisplacement with respect to the helmet. Here also the strip 12 isdriven by an electrical motor 18. This motor is mounted in a housing 19in which current feeding batteries 20 are located. This housing 19 isfastened on the helmet l or on the slide 14. Pressing rollers 21 areprovided on this housing and apply the strip 12 against the slide 14.The toothed wheel .22 is driven by the motor 18 and meshes with theperforations 13 of the strip 12.

In the variant shown in FIGS. 4 and the support is constituted by aslide 23 fastened within the helmet 1.

This slide extends over the whole length of the internal peripheryof thehelmet 1 and the'transparent strip 24 is i thus guided overall itslength but for the portion used The two opposite ends of the slide 23are provided with scraping lips 25.

The driving device of the strip 24 comprises the support 26 carrying ahousing 27 for the batteries 28. These batteries feed through theintermediary of a known vibrating device (not shown) an electromagnet29. The plunger 30 of this electromagnet is subjected to the returnaction of a spring 3l and driven in reciprocal movements due tosuccessive pulses delivered to the electromagnet. 1 r

I claim: -l. A helmet having a transparent protective shield in the formof a continuous closed loop of transparent strip material'disposedwithin the helmet. and passing about the head of the wearer and in frontof the eyes of the wearer, power means for continuouslycirculating theloop about the interior of the helmet so that dif fer'ent portions ofthe loop pass in one direction before the eyes of the wearer, and meanscarried by the helmet to clean the transparent loop during its movementrelai 5. A helmet as claimed in claim 1, said power means comprising anelectric motor carried by the helmet,- and batteries carried by thehelmet for driving said electric motor.

. A helmet as claimed in claim 1, said transparent loop being flexible.

1. A helmet having a transparent protective shield in the form of acontinuous closed loop of transparent strip material disposed within thehelmet and passing about the head of the wearer and in front of the eyesof the wearer, power means for continuously circulating the loop aboutthe interior of the helmet so that different portions of the loop passin one direction before the eyes of the wearer, and means carried by thehelmet to clean the transparent loop during its movement relative to thehelmet.
 2. A helmet as claimed in claim 1, said cleaning meanscomprising lips clamping the transparent loop between them.
 3. A helmetas claimed in claim 1, said power means comprising rotary means engagingin spaced perforations in said loop.
 4. A helmet as claimed in claim 1,said power means comprising reciprocatory means engaging with the loopto drive the loop in said one direction.
 5. A helmet as claimed in claim1, said power means comprising an electric motor carried by the helmet,and batteries carried by the helmet for driving said electric motor. 6.A helmet as claimed in claim 1, said transparent loop being flexible.